There will be tough talking ahead for the new Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. He’ll have to enact the newly-elected government’s pledge to end the austerity measures and writing off a large part of the country’s debt.

Varoufakis is a
53-year-old economist with Greek-Australian nationality. He is
taking the reins of the economy labeled the ‘sick man of Europe’
with a total debt of €317 billion, more than 50 percent youth
unemployment, and 20 percent of the population living below the
poverty line.

He says the new government is seeking to reform the current
system, first by destroying the oligarchy, ending the
'humanitarian crisis' in Greece, and recalculating the
country's debt to the ‘troika’ of international lenders.

The new finance minister succeeds two centrist technocrats who
oversaw the imposition of austerity measures demanded by the
European Commission, European Central Bank and International
Monetary Fund.

"We are going to destroy the basis upon which they have built
for decade after decade a system, a network that viciously sucks
the energy and the economic power from everybody else in
society," Varoufakis told Britain's Channel 4 television
ahead of the Sunday elections.

Yanis Varoufakis describes himself as 'an atheist theologian
ensconced in a Middle Ages monastery,' as he stands against
budget austerity and suggests that market-friendly structural
reforms would solve Greece's debt difficulties.

He has been a longtime critic of Europe's handling of the
economic crisis. Varoufakis says the risks it faces threaten to
undermine the region's democratic foundations and breaking the
eurozone apart. “A cynical transfer of banking losses onto
the shoulders of the weakest taxpayers cannot be a solution to
the issue,” he said in a blog post early in January,
announcing his candidacy for parliament.

The Greek crisis started in 2010 and the country’s debt reached
€317 billion. The continuous and deep economic recession resulted
in a high unemployment rate, increasing property taxes and a low
minimum wage.

Now the new government is expected to hold negotiations on Greek
debt repayment with its international lenders. Syriza said it
would abandon austerity measures in favor of its own program to
repay the national debt.

The uncertainty over the political and economic situation has
resulted in cautious discussions on the outcome, including the
country’s possible exit from the eurozone.

International rating agency Standard and Poor's warned the new
government it could downgrade its sovereign credit rating earlier
than planned.